Research

Clothing waste is a serious issue in the UK, with low production costs leading to quick turnaround and fast fashion. Compared to High Street fashion, corporate clothing ought to be straightforward to recover, with most companies supplying staff with a limited number of same fabric garments, and the collection infrastructure already largely set up. Nevertheless, despite the fact that the garments show little or no wear, 95% ends up in landfill.

End-of-life (EoL) management should be a priority for all organisations designing, supplying and using uniforms, especially given the ever-increasing onus placed on companies to become responsible for waste produced. With rising costs of waste disposal, this is only going to become more apparent.

Many conscientious users of corporate clothing have previously been unsuccessful in their attempts to find a sustainable way to dispose of end-of-life (EoL) clothing, because:

There are security and corporate image risks associated with reuse of branded clothing

It’s difficult to recycle garments with blended or treated fibres typical of corporatewear

Re-processors who accept corporatewear are hard to find

Few garments are designed with ease of disassembly in mind.

These problems are often compounded by lack of understanding across the supply chain and issues such as taxation and unclear labelling. There are very few labels concerned with EoL and, until now, there has been little regard for this issue within the industry.

Whether you are a purchaser, designer or manufacturer of corporate clothing, this site is designed to help you assess the best practices to take on board to maintain a sustainable operation. The following pages feature reports highlighting all these matters, discussing and trialing potential solutions, plus tools to aid decision making. We’ve had significant input from industry that has emphasised the need for more research into these areas, and further work is required for continued improvement. Please contact us on info@uniformreuse.co.uk if you would like to be involved in this important area.